Monday, May 17, 2010

"I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me. With the assistance of a defamation attorney, I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever. I am not gay and never have been." --George A. Rekers, Ph.D.

NARTH responds:

NARTH has accepted Dr. Rekers' resignation and would hope that the legal process will sufficiently clarify the questions that have arisen in this unfortunate situation. We express our sincere sympathy to all individuals, regardless of their perspective, who have been injured by these events. We also wish to reiterate our traditional position that these personal controversies do not change the scientific data, nor do they detract from the important work of NARTH. NARTH continues to support scientific research, and to value client autonomy, client self-determination and client diversity.

This all coming on the heels of the still breaking story that this anti-gay activist who is co-founder of the Family Research Council hired a 20 year old male escort to accompany him to Europe. The escort in question has since been outed and is talking to the media:

The new revelations were reported by the Miami New Times in a May 6 article. The escort, dubbed "Lucien" by the Miami New Times, reportedly told the press that Rekers favored a technique called the "long stroke," which the young man said involved contact "across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks." Added Lucien, "Rekers liked to be rubbed down there."

Monday, May 10, 2010

State Sen. Richard Tisei says the gay community can thank Republicans for gay marriage. “The margin of victory was provided by Republicans,” Tisei told Boston Spirit Magazine, a gay publication.

The comment was in reference to four GOP state senators who voted to keep same-sex from going to a public vote.

Let me be among the first to throw up the red flag and scream "Foul!" This is about as true as saying Mitt Romney is pro-abortion. Let no one forget that it was the Democratic Party that overwhelmingly supported marriage equality, and it was the Republican Party's public policy that GLBT people are undeserving of that equality. No Senator Tisei, we don't thank the Republicans for "gay marriage" as you call it. We thank those strong few individuals who had the courage and fortitude to stand against bigotry and vote against their party's policy for the betterment of our society and the future of our children. From the 2008 National Republican Platform we find the following:

"Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it."

"We consider discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran status, or national origin to be immoral, and we reject hatred, racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, and religious intolerance."

Notice how sexual orientation is missing from the list of things the Republican platform considers discrimination even though it is state law? From the Boston Spirit Magazine we find more ugly truths:

"But during the recent GOP state convention, after social conservatives circulated a transgender-baiting flier—smearing a pending civil-rights and hate-crimes bill by labeling it “bathroom bill”—it’s going to be a tough sell. Apparently, the Baker committee approved the tactic.

The flier read: “Charlie Baker opposes the ‘bathroom bill.’ And if it came to his desk, he would veto it.—Paid for by the Baker committee.”

Tisei is running alongside Charlie Baker as his Lt. Governor against the incumbent Governor Deval Patrick with the campaign platform that they can do a better job. Senator Tisei, you can start with telling the truth about your position on GLBT rights and how you differ from all the self-hating republican legislators out there who do harm to the GLBT community with their votes. Tisei may be openly gay now, however he is unmarried even after 16 years with the same "partner", and he still runs with a "pac" that is actively anti-GLBT, and at this moment I find these facts irreconcilable, for what it's worth.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

A major anti-gay figure that used to work at University of South Carolina, Rekers is a founder of the Family Research Council, a board member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, and testified as an expert witness in favor of gay adoption bans in both Arkansas and Florida. He has also published several anti-gay books.

Behind the Scenes, George Rekers Is A Major Anti-Gay Figure Who Has Caused A Great Deal of Harm, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out called on anti-gay activist Dr. George A. Rekers to resign from the board of a leading “ex-gay” therapy group and apologize to the LGBT community after the Miami New Times discovered that he took a male prostitute that he met on Rentboy.com to Europe. According to the sex worker, Rekers “likes younger guys to hang out with.”

“This is a bombshell that completely discredits the ex-gay industry and proves that the movement is a fraud,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “While Rekers keeps a low public profile, his fingerprints are on almost every anti-gay effort to demean and dehumanize LGBT people. Lobby groups that work to deny equality to LGBT Americans ubiquitously cite his work. Rekers has caused a great deal of harm to gay and lesbian individuals.”

Both the sex worker and Rekers deny having sex on the trip, and emails exchanged between the two prior to their escapade are carefully worded. Reached by New Times reporters Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp, who broke the story, before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned that the man in question was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. “I had surgery,” Rekers said, “and I can’t lift luggage. That’s why I hired him.” (Though medical problems didn’t stop him from pushing the large baggage cart through Miami International Airport, according to the New Times.)

“It is clear that Rekers has baggage and certainly needs help,” said Besen. “At least he did not say he was walking the Appalachian Trail. Given the sordid and tawdry facts, he should immediately step down from NARTH’s Board and apologize to the LGBT community for his extreme hypocrisy and self-loathing. As of today, his entire body of work on LGBT issues is rendered meaningless.”

This is the second NARTH board member to be exposed as a fraud in the past three months. In February, Arthur Abba Goldberg was unmasked as a con artist who had served prison time for bond fraud. Goldberg was also the co-fonder of Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). Goldberg resigned from NARTH’s board in shame.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay misinformation, counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of LGBT people. Our goal is to fight for a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly, free of discrimination and be true to themselves.

Recommended Reading

Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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